By Eric Heisig
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland
CLEVELAND — Five black Cleveland EMS captains sued the city and its EMS commissioner Thursday, claiming they faced racial discrimination and retaliation when they complained about their treatment.
Capts. Michael Threat, Margarita Noland-Moore, Pamela Beavers, Lawrence Walker and Reginald Anderson all say that Commissioner Nicole Carlton routinely treated black captains different than white counterparts when it came to assigning preferred shifts and days for which they applied to work each year.
The captains say that in one instance, Carlton and the city moved a black male captain from a shift and days where three other black captains were scheduled to work. They replaced him with a white male captain, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court.
When the plaintiffs asked Carlton why she did that, her response was that “I cannot have a shift with all blacks on it,” according to the suit filed by attorneys Avery Friedman and Jared Klebanow.
When the captains filed complaints with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, they faced retaliation, and one was disciplined for conduct other white captains committed in the past but were never subjected to discipline, the suit says.
The city “has been and continues to be aware of the historical supremacist problems within the division of Emergency Medical Services,” according to the lawsuit.
The EEOC issued right to sue letters to the plaintiffs. The suit says the captains’ constitutional rights were violated. They seek an unnamed amount in damages and a court order barring the city and Carlton from discrimination and retaliation.
The plaintiffs are set to hold a news conference outside Cleveland City Hall at 3 p.m. Friday.
Carlton and city spokesman Dan Williams did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Work shifts for EMS captains have historically been doled out by seniority, and captains have the opportunity each fall to bid on the following year’s schedule, the lawsuit states.
In 2011, a collective bargaining agreement that EMS employees had with the city permitted the commissioner to transfer up to four captains from their chosen shifts and days, and those changes were to be based on seniority to avoid having shifts with too many inexperienced captains, according to the lawsuit.
However, Carlton only moved black or female captains, and never white male captains, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs said the commissioner did not take seniority into account and when confronted, she said she could do whatever she wanted under the contract, according to the suit.
After the plaintiffs filed grievances, Carlton and the city admitted race and gender were factors when switching shifts for captains, the suit says. The captains filed complaints with the civil rights commission and the EEOC, and other complaints followed over other another transfer.
In both incidents the civil rights commission found probable cause on charges and ordered an attempt be made to mediate the dispute, the captains say. Instead, the commission and the city resolved the matters without the captains’ consent, according to the suit.
A news story ran after the civil rights commission found probable cause for a complaint in July 2018, and the city filed an unfair labor practice charge against the plaintiffs. The lawsuit says that was retaliation for the civil rights commission’s finding and the bad publicity, and that the charge was untrue.
As a result, the plaintiffs filed another complaint with the civil rights commission and EEOC, this time alleging retaliation.
The city then started a “campaign of punishment” against the plaintiffs, charging Beavers with violating the city’s sick abuse policy, the suit states. She was also punished for being late for seven minutes when others who had not filed complaints were not disciplined, according to the suit.
“Plaintiffs have been and continued to be anxious and concerned over continuing retaliation by Defendant City of Cleveland in their battle for equality,” the suit says.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge James Gwin.
———
©2019 The Plain Dealer, Cleveland